How much will you pay for the high school?

Updated March 17

The staggering price tag of a renovated regional high school has represented the biggest concern for taxpayers since the project’s start, and now the tax burden that Islanders will shoulder in each town is becoming more clear. 

On Monday night, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) Committee held several key votes on the financial aspects of the more than $300 million capital project. The amount that property-owning town residents will pay over the next 30 years was drafted, and a debt-repayment model was decided on. The increased tax burden to pay for the school will not be easy for most families. Estimates based on median-priced homes will put tax increases at just under $500 in Edgartown and $775 in Tisbury annually over the next 30 years.

While a multimillion-dollar reimbursement from the state will provide some relief, the district share for the building project is expected to be $258 million, which will be divided among the towns. The school committee is planning on introducing a tax calculator on the MVRHS building project website soon, so residents can find out exactly how much they would pay based on their property value. 

For taxpayers, the price of the project is substantial, and may be a hefty addition to an already high cost of living. For school officials, the planned renovation is a necessity, given the current state of the building and the risk the deficiencies pose to students. 

At Monday’s meeting, the school committee decided on a level debt-funding model for the $333.4 million building project, meaning the debt for the cost of a rebuilt school will be distributed in a near-equal manner across the next 30 years, while the tax rate will vary from town to town. With a slight increase in the first few years and a gradual dip toward the end, the middle two decades have the respective towns paying a consistent share through the years. 

The other option on the table was a level principal model, which would have been more expensive for taxpayers in the first few years, with a drop later on. This option featured a lower interest rate overall, but less leeway for other funded initiatives in the near future, like a building project for a new town hall in Tisbury. Officials in the down-Island towns were divided on the options, and representatives gave their recommendations to the school committee for consideration.

“We believe it would be inappropriate to structure this borrowing in a way that requires current taxpayers to disproportionately shoulder the project’s cost in its earliest years in order to subsidize future taxpayers,” the Edgartown Select Board wrote in a letter to the school committee. 

But Tisbury representatives disagreed. They pointed out that the level principal payment structure allowed for taxpayers to pay $47 million less overall, and finish the payments more quickly. 

“I’m just concerned for the residents of the town of Tisbury. Now, we’re probably double any other municipality on this Island with tax burden,” Joe LaCivita, Tisbury town administrator, said in the school committee meeting on Monday. 

Other town representatives also noted the maintenance costs required for a building over a 30-year period.

“One of the things that a level of principal debt arrangement allows you to do is to make room for what you’re going to need to borrow to maintain this very large facility,” Rachel Orr, a member of the Tisbury finance and advisory committee, said at Monday’s committee meeting. 

In a draft breakdown of costs, which was presented to the school committee by its bond counsel, UniBank, the tax rates are higher for the down-Island towns, which will be paying a few million dollars each year, and lower for up-Island. This disparity is due to a funding formula that was decided on in 2022. The formula was based on school enrollment, property values, and insight from town representatives.

While attendees of Monday’s meeting were largely split between the level debt and level principal options for funding, the decision came down to what each town can handle initially, with the consideration that inflation will essentially lower the burden as the years go on, and they landed on the level debt option. For example, in 2045, with current inflation rates of about 3 percent, the purchasing power of roughly $3 million would likely be cut in half. With those considerations, the school committee decided that getting the bulk of the cost over with sooner might be moot.

The MVRHS building was built in the 1950s, and has been slated for a renovation for more than a decade by school leaders. The current building has mold in the walls, asbestos under floorboards, frequent flooding, dated mechanical systems, no central air system, and classroom sizes that don’t meet state standards for learning.

School committee members are urging the school project to move forward, and are hoping that Islanders will vote to approve the funding model this summer. The committee members have pointed to reimbursement funding from the state that makes this proposal more feasible. More than $71 million has been allotted for the construction of the MVRHS building by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, an organization that funds capital projects statewide.

An Island-wide vote is scheduled for June 2, when Vineyard residents will go to the polls to decide on the fiscal future of their own tax rates and the educational future of young Islanders. It’s a lofty call when other capital projects, tax burdens, and personal considerations are all at play.

Below are what the towns’ tax burdens are expected to be over the next 30 years, based on draft data by UniBank. All information below was calculated by The Times, based on the highest peak represented in said data, and would be an additional amount on existing property taxes. All calculations are examples using median property values in each town, not an individual home. Numbers may vary for the assessed value of an individual property. The calculations were done based on the median home in each town in 2025, as reported by The Warren Group, which collects real estate data:

A taxpayer in Tisbury with a property value of $1.25 million will pay $775 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years. 

• Percentage of project costs: 22.9 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $59,082,000
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.62
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property at peak, per year: $62.10

Representatives in the town of Tisbury have been concerned about their impending tax-rate increases since the funding formula was finalized. 

Town residents are already paying for the Tisbury School building renovation, which cost $82 million. The project did not receive MSBA reimbursement after a few residents voted the project down, so taxpayers are responsible for the full cost of that school. That school is being paid for through a level debt payment model. 

Tacking on another school building project has, for some, seemed a monumental addition to an already higher tax rate. Tisbury has the lowest median income of any Island town, at a salary of about $70,724 a year in 2023, according to the towns’ 2025 Housing Production Plan. 

Town leaders are also zeroing in on a town hall upgrade, and an old waterworks building was approved by voters for renovation to house LaCivita. 

According to Tisbury finance committee chair Nancy Gilfoy, Tisbury has the highest tax impact because of the smaller number of properties, and the already steep tax rate in the town.

A taxpayer in Oak Bluffs with a property value of about $1.29 million will pay $672 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years.

• Percentage of project costs: 22.89 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $59,056,200
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.52
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property, per year: $52.18

A spokesperson for the Oak Bluffs town administrator, Deborah Potter, stated that the town, which will be paying a nearly equal amount to Tisbury, was a proponent of the level principal as well. Due to the lower interest rate in the principal debt payment, Oak Bluffs was more interested in the financial savings of that option. 

“For the town of Oak Bluffs, she can’t overlook the significant savings of interest that would, for us, equate to $12 to $15 million over that time period. So even though it costs more up front, it will be felt for years to come,” the spokesperson said of Potter’s position.

A taxpayer in Edgartown with a property value of $1.7 million will pay $493 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years.

• Percentage of project costs: 30.13 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $77,735,400
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.29
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property, per year: $28.70

The residents of Edgartown will be taking on the highest portion of the debt ,at 30.13 percent of the total. But they’ll pay the lowest annual amount per taxpayer, because of the high number of residents, slightly lower property values than up-Island, and a lower town tax rate. The town was in favor of the level debt. Sarah Murphy, the Edgartown representative on the school committee, said, “The level debt allows for better stable, long-term planning for all towns” at Monday’s meeting. 

“Instead of front-loading the cost from a level principle approach, it allows us to spend those dollars on other projects that are currently happening, and in addition, make better planning for longer-term funding for the town,” Murphy continued.

A taxpayer in Chilmark with a property value of about $2.5 million will pay $503 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years.

• Percentage of project costs: 8.26 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $21,310,800
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.20
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property, per year: $20.07

While no representatives for Chilmark spoke at Monday’s meeting, members of the select board in the up-Island town have had some frustrations with the process so far. They’re in support of a new building for students, but have asked for more of a voice in the funding and voting measures.

A taxpayer in West Tisbury with a property value of $1.5 million will pay $600 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years.

• Percentage of project costs: 13.42 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $34,623,600
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.40
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property, per year: $40.28

A taxpayer in Aquinnah with a property value of about $1.5 million will pay $558 annually for the level debt over 30 years, but will pay a significantly lower amount during the first and last five years. Because of the especially unique seasonal nature of the homes in Aquinnah, we used the average assessed value of the current homes in the town (the median home price was used for other towns).

• Percentage of project costs: 2.4 percent
• Monetary value of the town’s share: $6,192,000
• Increase on residential tax rate at peak, per year: $0.36
• Increase for each $100,000 of a property, per year: $36.34

At 2.4 percent of the high school building project, Aquinnah property owners will pay the smallest share of the project, with a similar annual rate to West Tisbury. While they have the lowest enrollment in the regional high school, the property values and town tax rates are higher, and there are fewer residents in the town.

ditor’s note: Updated to reflect that the Tisbury School building project was paid through level debt, not level principal. The numbers for Aquinnah have also been changed to be more accurate to the average assessed value of current homes in the town, which is largely different from the median home price.